GE Gets $45M Oil Rig Contract

HOUSTON (AP) -- General Electric Co. won a $45 million contract to supply and service a Chevron deep water oil drilling rig in the Gulf Coast.

GE said Wednesday that its Oil & Gas Drilling & Production business will build an oil rig in Chevron's "Big Foot" oil field that will drill at a depth of 5,200 feet. The rig is called a tension leg platform, and GE said it will be the largest rig of its kind. Other tension leg platform drills have only drilled as deep as 5,000 feet, according to GE.

GE said it is modifying a normal tension leg platform rig to be able to withstand wave and current conditions at deep water levels.

The new rig will be Chevron's sixth operated facility in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and will be located about 225 miles south of New Orleans.